Choosing a stand for Kos-mos

Hello, I'm looking for suggestions on a stand for my soon-to-arrive Dollfie Dream Kos-mos. For my purposes, I plan to have Kos-mos on display on my desk, so portability is not a concern. What I'm looking for is one that's sturdy enough to support various poses for long periods of time and can survive the occasional bumping into it. For the base, I prefer clear acrylic, but a metal one is OK.

 

After some research, it seems that saddle-type stands are favoured by many dollfie collectors. One such stand I'm considering to get is made by Cool Cat. However, my main concern with any saddle-type stand is whether the saddle part of the stand would be concealed (from normal viewing angles) by the somewhat skimpy outfit of Kos-mos'. Or, would it look awkward having parts of the saddle exposed? Although I like the Cool Cat stand, I can see a potential problem since the front side of the saddle is angled instead of curved.

 

Alternatively, would a waist-type or thigh-type stand be better suited for Kos-mos? The question then is whether it would be sturdy enough to prop up Kos-mos with her outlandishly long blade?

 

Any suggestions are appreciated!

I have a few of the Cool Cat thigh stands and I love them. They are quite sturdy on flat surfaces and should do what you need easily enuff.

 

This link shows all the ones they have for the DD bodies:

 

http://us.sk-coolcat.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=acc11&Category=185699

 

Since KOSMOS has huge weapons and needs all the stability you can give her, I'd go for the widest round base possible. I'd also get the base with a tripod mount in the center just in case you ever decide to take it out for photos. I made my own tripod stand and it's really fun to use.

 

Hope that helps you some!

 

 

 

Billy

Gratz on Kos-Mos she's a beautiful doll.

 

I have the cool cats stands as well, and they are pretty good. Her outfit has a skirt so I would go with a saddle stand. I usually only use the waist type if they have a coat or sweater that will cover the clamp. A saddle stand should look nicer on Kos-Mos, and you can just lift her off of it. The main thing I don't like with saddles is they make skirts flare out unnaturally in the back. I haven't had any issues from the front.

 

I can post a picture of Kos-Mos on her cool cats stand with her outfit on later today, so you can judge if you like the saddle type. I recall it being fairly well concealed, but admittedly I rarely have her in her default outfit so I need to see her in it to be sure.

 

The cool cats saddles can be bent slightly to adjust the fit.

 

Saddle stands don't look good with pants, but I find the waist stands are more bleepbersome. You aren't going to want to leave her on the stand all the time, and it's really nice to be able to just pick her up to get her off of it.

 

The cool cats stands are adjustable for height, and you can adjust the base so that it is under the doll or behind the doll. Putting it behind her allows her feet to be on the ground and that allows for more dynamic poses.

 

If you get a cool cats stand you may want to look at getting her some protective clothing. The black parts of her clothing will stain her.

 

Her wig fits very loosely so the Volks Pitatto Wig (Doll Wig Stopper) is a good idea. Once her head armor is on her wig stays in place well, but without it her wig slides right off. Her head is tiny, so she really needs an 8 inch wig.

 

One other note I would make is her chest armor is made up of several pieces that come apart. When removing it it's easier to separate the sections, so you don't snap the plastic pins. Before putting it all on her I'd recommend examining each piece so you know how they fit together. A few of them like the chest look like one piece, but are actually several pieces.

Thanks for the replies! Looks like I should get a saddle stand. I also saw a saddle stand made by Dollfie World. Does anyone know if that one is better or worse than the saddle stand from Cool Cat?

 

@Wolf: Glad to hear from someone who actually owned a Kos-mos. Looking forward to seeing a picture of her on a Cool Cat stand. Also, thanks for the other tips. I'm actually going to get a cotton head cap to make the wig fit tighter and to prevent stains. I'm not sure whether I want to insert a layer of protective clothing, though. My worry is that it might make the clothes too tight, which makes bending the body joints more difficult. I hope it's sufficient to just pre-wash all coloured pieces of clothing before putting them on Kos-mos.

I'm actually going to get a cotton head cap to make the wig fit tighter and to prevent stains. I'm not sure whether I want to insert a layer of protective clothing, though. My worry is that it might make the clothes too tight, which makes bending the body joints more difficult. I hope it's sufficient to just pre-wash all coloured pieces of clothing before putting them on Kos-mos.

 

I got a cotton head cap for her and it didn't help. Cotton plus a silicone cap did, but I believe her head armor won't fit if you use silicone. Putting the head armor on with her wig trying to slide off is very frustrating.

 

I washed the black parts of her clothing and just to be safe taped her legs. Had the outfit on for an hour and removed it. The tape had black on it. Those black parts are why she rarely wears that outfit. Cool cats has a large selection in a range of thicknesses but the thinner the material the less the stain protection.

 

I believe Foo suggested getting a body suit and cutting it apart to make tubes to go under stuff like her stockings and arm covers. That might work better than a full suit, but unhemed the edges would fray over time.

 

Just a warning once you have one you will want more. Dollfies multiply like rabbits and demand wigs, jewelry,

 

and a regular supply of new outfits.

I also saw a saddle stand made by Dollfie World. Does anyone know if that one is better or worse than the saddle stand from Cool Cat?

The DW stand is bulkier and heavier than the Coolcat stand, which can be a positive or a negative depending on how you want to use it (outdoors vs indoors for example). Personally I find that one DW stand is sufficient since I prefer the Coolcat one for display purposes, mostly due to it being lighter and easier to handle, and my dolls spend most of their time on display.

Here she is in her dress, on a coolcats stand.

 

My Kos-Mos has some mods. She's wearing an 8" crobbi wig, and I swapped her L Bust with an M Bust. Her normal L Bust fills the dress out a bit more.

 

 

The saddle part of the stand doesn't protrude out under the dress, and the front doesn't bulge outwards. In the back there is a bulge, but her hair covers it.

 

To pose her with the stand base behind her in her default outfit you probably need to position her feet spread out farther.

I have the Coolcat stand and my gripe with it (as Wolf's photo shows) is that the base if very thick. You have to either keep both feet on it or both feet off of it, which is limiting.

 

The Volks saddle stand OTOH has a very thin base so you don't have to worry about it,

 

Wigs by bodolza, on Flickr

 

The only odd thing about the Volks stand is that the saddle itself is very wide at the tips, which tends to raise skirts; the Coolcat stand's clamp is much more discrete. However because the clamp's wide you don't actually need to clamp it around the doll like the Coolcat stand, the doll can basically sit on it. And by being wide it provides a lot of grip if you want it, which lets you do stuff like this,

 

Pretty Mage by bodolza, on Flickr

 

Trick or Treat! by bodolza, on Flickr

 

I've edited out the stand in those photos, but this is how it's like,

 

Stands by bodolza, on Flickr

 

The plastic stand on the right is holding up one side of the broom (Melty's hand is holding up the other), and the stand on the left is just holding up Sorbet. Melty's just being held up by the Volks stand itself.

 

This is what the Coolcat stand's like,

 

Yaya w/ Head Pastry Chef outfit by bodolza, on Flickr

 

Stolen Parking Spot by bodolza, on Flickr

 

To sum up the two,

 

Volks stand pros:

- thin, heavy base

- strong clamp that can hold the doll by itself

 

Volks stand cons:

- strong clamp is kind of fat and can lift up clothing

 

Coolcat stand pros:

- The clamp is discrete and very good at holding the doll

 

Coolcat stand cons:

- can't hold the doll by the clamp alone

- base is very thick and gets in the way

 

There's also the Alice Collection's Invisible Doll Stand which I've ordered, but it seems to be stuck in the mail

I have the Coolcat stand and my gripe with it (as Wolf's photo shows) is that the base if very thick. You have to either keep both feet on it or both feet off of it, which is limiting.

 

That is very true. The coolcat stand is more like the Volks wood base stand except of course that polished wood looks a lot nicer than acrylic.

 

Additional cons to the coolcat stand.

 

- The metal post is thick and harder to hide in photo's.

- The wingnut at the base and the adjustment screw are also harder to hide in photos. Having a bolt with a big plastic head growing out of a dolls leg ruins the micro-composition.

- I have to position the doll just right to conceal the post completely.

 

Pros.

- Coolcat seems to always have stock. Volks is usually out of stock. The main reason I don't have a Volks stand is they never seem to have them in stock when I need them.

 

I live in earthquake country so for me the stands are a protection of my investment. They are always on their stands when I'm not doing something with them. If I buy a doll I buy a stand at the same time for that reason. Waiting months for Volks to restock isn't an option.

 

I usually end up taking photo's without a stand, because the coolcat posts are too thick. As you can see with Mio editing out the stand would be a pain even with the very helpful Photoshop clone stamp.

 

With Rin, Saber, and Kos-Mos it's easier to just balance them on their own two feet.

 

But... DD's don't always balance easily and Kos-Mos ended up taking a dive off the table when I was setting up the photo. They will usually do this when you are behind the camera and not next to them, so all you can do is watch them fall. I was pretty freaked out too because she landed head first on my wall heater and I was afraid she'd have scratches. Fortunately she seems to have hit on the dome of her head so the wig protected her.

What about the Alice's Collections stand? I haven't gotten one myself yet, but I got to play with Mimiyo's at a meetup a few months ago and LOVED it. It still has a thick base, but you can angle the 'arm' of the stand so they touch the ground with both feet directly--or so they don't touch the ground at all.

I don't have a Coolcat saddle stand available right now but here's a comparison picture that at least shows the Coolcat (left) and DW (middle) bases. Note that this is the 120mm Coolcat base, they also have a wider 150mm one. I also threw in my Selen stand (at the right) since it's by far the least bulky stand I've seen and is fairly easy to hide. I only have one of those though since they're a bit tricky to buy here in the US, I got mine off of YJA.

 

 

And here's a photo showing how they look in use

 

Thanks all for your insight, I really appreciate it!

 

Looks like the Cool Cat has the smallest base, even for the 15cm one. This gives me slight concerns. I'm sure the stand is perfectly stable if it's holding just the doll upright. The problem with Kos-mos is her enormous weapon which is longer than she is tall. If the weapon is extended outwards, the center of gravity will be farther away from the base than normal. Will the stand be stable still for permanent display? It would be great to know if someone has experience using Cool Cat stands for similar action-y poses.

 

Another thing I noticed is that the stand is not much above its minimum height when Kos-mos is standing upright. I wonder can the saddle be lowered to make poses such as this one (volks.co.jp/image/en/xenosaga3/pic_cosmos01.jpg)?

I'm dumb at reading, n/m my whole reply

Edited May 28, 2016 by Guest

All stands have a way to change their height a bit. you can see in Skaf's picture - the middle of the stand has something to adjust the height.

 

Yes, I understand. But there is a minimum adjustable height for each stand. The Cool Cat one is 28.5cm according to the spec. I'm not sure if that's low enough. It appears that the Volks and Dollfie World ones can go lower than that. I never owned a doll stand before, or a doll for that matter, so I'm purely guessing from looking at the pictures.

 

Kos-Mos massive weapons will need a stand of their own. a lot of Volks girls can barely hold their blades properly, a big gun is def not happening. You can see in promo shots even Volks themselves proped those things up on a secondary attachment

 

The weapon I'm referring to is the dragontooth sword, not the minigun. The Volks illustration shows the sword without a separate stand, although I suspect the tip of the blade may have been touching the floor in that pose. I think I've read some comment stating that the grip on the sword is tight. If (hopefully) Kos-mos can hold her weapon in air without her arm joints coming apart, then there will be extra pressure on the stand to keep her balanced.

The weapon I'm referring to is the dragontooth sword, not the minigun. The Volks illustration shows the sword without a separate stand, although I suspect the tip of the blade may have been touching the floor in that pose. I think I've read some comment stating that the grip on the sword is tight. If (hopefully) Kos-mos can hold her weapon in air without her arm joints coming apart, then there will be extra pressure on the stand to keep her balanced.

 

I haven't tried with that one, but overall my guess would be that dragontooth isn't something you can pose held up in the air. Much lighter weapons like Saber's Extra's sword, and Saber Lily's Excalibur have limitations on the types of poses you can do with them because the dolls joints can't hold the weapon up in the air.

 

For example a pose like this would be no issue for Saber Lily with her Excalibur.

 

 

But one like this would only work by using fishing line to suspend the sword from a higher shelf on the display case. My Sakura Shinguji could do this with her Katana with no problem though.

 

 

You should be able to do almost any pose with her handgun, but dragontooth will probably need some type of prop. Understand that Volks may use props like mono-filament line to create their product photos, and then edit them out with Photoshop. Also the dolls often have variations in their parts. I have DD with very tight joints and a few with very loose joints.

 

You are going to be surprised at how big she is and how much space she will take up with that weapon. If I wanted to pose her with that sword she would take up an entire shelf on my 36" wide display case. She currently shares that shelf with 5 other DD.

 

As far as display base sizes I have never had any stability issues with my coolcat stands themselves but the doll will need to have her feet positioned correctly to keep her from spinning around in the saddle. Basically it's a thin metal bar, and their upper body is heavier than their lower body. Gravity will work it's magic if her legs and feet aren't providing proper stability. I have posed dolls with one foot up in the air on a saddle stand with no issues as long as they are balanced correctly. My Uzuki Shimamura had sort of an idol-esque dance pose going on for a few weeks, and she never fell.

 

If something happens to shift her center of gravity substantially she will spin around the saddle, and her larger weapons could do that if they fell. With the 150 mm base she will probably end up upside down and off the stand before the stand itself falls over. If you used a clamp stand she can't fall off, but the stand might get pulled over with her. I'd personally rather they fall off the stand than end up falling to the floor with a heavy stand attached to them; it seems to me that the latter has the greater potential for damage.

 

Adjustable height allows the stands to fit other dolls too. My Coolcat DIII saddle stand will work with DDS and my Coolcat DDS saddle stand will hold an Azone 50 cm.

Edited May 28, 2016 by Guest

There are replacement internal DD frames that supposedly allows you to pose like this:

 

 

There are a few of them being sold right now on YJA, http://sellinglist.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/user/onimaru2989.

I have one of them but I haven't gotten around to trying it out yet.

 

Note that the doll in the picture above also has custom hands, I haven't seen them been sold anywhere though. I would expect the sword to just fall out if you tried this with the sword holding hands from Volks.

There are replacement internal DD frames that supposedly allows you to pose like this:

 

That's really interesting. Not just because it's more like a human spine, but the neck seems to lack ridges. That might make it less damaging to the head when you remove it.

You should be able to do almost any pose with her handgun, but dragontooth will probably need some type of prop. Understand that Volks may use props like mono-filament line to create their product photos, and then edit them out with Photoshop. Also the dolls often have variations in their parts. I have DD with very tight joints and a few with very loose joints.

 

You are going to be surprised at how big she is and how much space she will take up with that weapon. If I wanted to pose her with that sword she would take up an entire shelf on my 36" wide display case. She currently shares that shelf with 5 other DD.

 

As far as display base sizes I have never had any stability issues with my coolcat stands themselves but the doll will need to have her feet positioned correctly to keep her from spinning around in the saddle. Basically it's a thin metal bar, and their upper body is heavier than their lower body. Gravity will work it's magic if her legs and feet aren't providing proper stability. I have posed dolls with one foot up in the air on a saddle stand with no issues as long as they are balanced correctly. My Uzuki Shimamura had sort of an idol-esque dance pose going on for a few weeks, and she never fell.

 

If something happens to shift her center of gravity substantially she will spin around the saddle, and her larger weapons could do that if they fell. With the 150 mm base she will probably end up upside down and off the stand before the stand itself falls over. If you used a clamp stand she can't fall off, but the stand might get pulled over with her. I'd personally rather they fall off the stand than end up falling to the floor with a heavy stand attached to them; it seems to me that the latter has the greater potential for damage.

 

I see. Guess I was a bit too optimistic about the possibilities for posing with her weapon. In any case, I will remember to keep her well away from the edges of any display surface so she won't take a dive to the floor if she falls.

If I have time I'll try some things with the sword this weekend. I've avoided it so far because of space limitations.

 

I would say that with DD you have to be creative. You can do really cool things with them. Like with Foo's broom photo for example. I am sure that took a lot of thought and effort to pull off.

I do want to submit for the record Billy's Yoko posing with Dragon Tooth. ;P (It's the last weapon he has her pose with!) She can hold it without support in very specific poses, but like everyone above said, definitely get some kind of support for it. Obitsu makes some stands like the plastic Volks DD stand for 27cm dolls that might be good if you want to pose the sword closer to the ground, just to give it some added stability. Thinking very similar in concept to Foo's broom picture.

 

This is just in theory though, as I don't actually own stands for my girls, so anyone feel free to correct me if that idea would not work.

Here she is holding a variety of items including her Dragontooth sword.

 

She holds it better than I thought she would, but it still sags a bit. The pommel should be right up against her arm. She is stable on the stand, but the Dragontooth really needs some support of its own.

Kos-Mos Dragon by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

Here is an image with a ruler so you can get an idea of the size. It's a 24 inch (60 cm) ruler. This isn't a very dynamic pose and she is taking up about 27 inches of space.

Kos-Mos Dragon Ruler by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

Here are two with Saber Lily's Excalibur and it's scabbard Avalon.

Kos-Mos Avalon by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

Kos-Mos Excal Rest by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

This pose works one handed, but it works a lot better with two hands. Her grip on the sword it better with two hands and the point doesn't sag down.

Kos-Mos Excal Raised by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

Here I would want to secure the sword with line. If it slipped out of her hands it would probably land point down and get damaged. Excalibur sells for around $400 nowadays.

Kos-Mos Excal Down by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

This one with Mio's bass was just for fun.

Kos-Mos Elizabass by Cult-of-Athena, on Flickr

 

A couple of other details I wanted to mention. When mine arrived her knife was floating around loose in the accessory box. The only way I can get it to stay in it's slot in the package is with a bit of tape. She also has a bag of bling attached to the underside of the plastic tray in the accessory box. It's taped on, but its always possible it could come loose in shipping. When you pull the tray out of the box be sure you don't loose anything. Pretty much everything else should be really secure in the tray, but those two items might be floating.

 

If you decide to pop out her red eyes and replace them with the blue ones be sure to wear a pair of soft white gloves. The eyes themselves should pop out easily when you push on them, but you can easily scratch her face up with your fingernails. You don't want to wear any gloves that could stain her. You might be able to use the latex gloves you get in the cleaning isle at the grocery store as long as they aren't dyed. I've never tried with those personally though.

 

As a general rule don't touch her face-up with your hands, and wash your hands before handling her. They can pickup stains from stuff you don't realize is there.

Thanks again Wolf for taking those pictures; that's exactly what I was looking for.

 

Looks like Kos-mos is quite stable on that stand, but the base does look a bit small so I'm not sure if I would feel secure leaving her unattended like that for long. Also, I was hoping I could avoid needing a second stand for the weapon. A second stand is ok for photographing since I can later edit out the stand, but for displaying there won't be a way to hide it. Perhaps I will have to find a very stable pose of Kos-mos with her weapon and put her on a heavy stand like the Dollfie World one. For now, I think I will wait until I see her first hand to determine whether I need two stands or a heavy one.

I do want to submit for the record Billy's Yoko posing with Dragon Tooth. ;P (It's the last weapon he has her pose with!) She can hold it without support in very specific poses, but like everyone above said, definitely get some kind of support for it.

 

Hee hee, thanks for sharing that link! Once I saw all the great photos of KOSMOS posing with her Dragontooth above, I immediately thought of the Yoko pics. I do also have some other pics of my Midori posing with it. As stated, she can only do certain poses with it due to the weight and crazy length but with some fiddling, I got her to look pretty dang cool without using a stand for her or the weapon!

 

DSC_0441 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0443 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr

 

No strings attached to the tip of the blade in these next ones. She's holding it up all on her own.

 

DSC_0444 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0445 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr

 

You can see very clearly in his photo that the main weight is on her shoulder.... that one white part is sunken into her quite well and did a good job of securing the blade while not slipping at all.

 

DSC_0446 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr

 

So with some time and adjustments ( along with a stiff DD frame ) you *can* pose your girls without a stand while they hold huge weapons. It's just WAY easier and more stable with one.

 

 

 

Billy

Looks like Kos-mos is quite stable on that stand, but the base does look a bit small so I'm not sure if I would feel secure leaving her unattended like that for long.

 

Here she is with her miniguns, and this was a bit precarious without Mos-Mos on a stand. If one of these fell it would probably pull her off a saddle stand.

 

The only alternative to a weapon stand for these or Dragontooth that I can think of would be get a display case and use hook-eyes and mono-filament line.

 

I've never had an issue with any of them falling over except for my SD16. My DDS are on leg clamp stands with a smaller base and they are quite stable too. My SD16 has never fallen over on her own, but she is a heavy resin with elastic strings instead of an internal skeleton. Her knees and waist have special parts that lock them in place when she is standing, but her hips don't and her body can flop over if I bump her into something when removing her from the display case. If that happens her whole center of gravity changes and she goes right off the stand.

 

For earthquake protection I should probably get a waist clamp style stand for her, but I am loath to because they don't look good when the doll is wearing a dress or skirt. For Kos-Mos they would work because her shirt doesn't flare outward, but the clamp around her waist wouldn't look nice. I only use clamp stands when the doll is wearing pants, and ideally I cover the clamp with a sweater or jacket.

 

In these pictures she has been wearing a cool cats stocking type body suit. It's actually supposed to be protective gear, but in this case it looks like a pair of tights, so it becomes part of the outfit. It's thinner so its protection won't be as good as one of their full body suits. It provides no arm protection either.

 

Once I saw all the great photos of KOSMOS posing with her Dragontooth above, I immediately thought of the Yoko pics. I do also have some other pics of my Midori posing with it.

 

My dragontooth ones aren't exactly inspired. Your Midori picks are awesome though. That must have taken a lot of effort to setup especially without a stand.

 

I do like DSC-0443, and using her shoulder in the next one was brilliant.

 

The issue with posing Kos-Mos and her sword is you want to make it look as though she thinks it's light as a feather, and could easily leap 30 feet up in the air then slice a giant robot in two with it.

My dragontooth ones aren't exactly inspired.

 

Ha ha, maybe not but I thought they were pretty cool looking.

 

Your Midori pics are awesome though. That must have taken a lot of effort to setup especially without a stand.

 

Thank you very much! I'm lucky that her inner frame is extremely tight so once she's posed, she keeps her pose well, even if she's bumped around a little. Now getting her to hold that blade without a stand did take some time but once I figured out her center of balance with the blade, it wasn't so bad.

 

I do like DSC-0443, and using her shoulder in the next one was brilliant.

 

Yeah, I liked having it look like a huge rifle too, kinda neat since it totally isn't a gun of any sort. And thanks about the shoulder! In that shot, she looks like she's just holding it easily with both hands. It's all about the angles!

 

The issue with posing Kos-Mos and her sword is you want to make it look as though she thinks it's light as a feather, and could easily leap 30 feet up in the air then slice a giant robot in two with it.

 

Yeah, that's it exactly. Being able to do that without photoshopping or using hangers and threads or stands is extremely hard. It would be nice to be able to have the girls able to do whatever we liked for posing..... damn you physics!

 

 

Billy